Together
by ProfessionalCatFan
Summary: A few months after adopting her, Phoenix and Trucy go for a morning walk in the snow.


_Hello, everyone :) Here I am with my first ever Ace Attorney fanfic, a relatively fluffy one-shot between Phoenix and Trucy. It's been snowing a lot recently, hence the inspiration for this fic. _

_While pretty much only Phoenix and Trucy are in this fic, I hope I kept them in character. I had another scene planned for this one-shot towards the end, but it didn't really fit the over all tone and I thought it would take the focus away from Phoenix and Trucy. I'll probably try to include that scene in a different Ace Attorney fic one day :)_

_Well, thank you to everyone who decided to read this one-shot. I'll stop with this note now._

* * *

While not early enough in the morning for it to be considered insane if he woke up, Phoenix definitely would have appreciated a few more hours in bed. It was Sunday, after all-with there being nothing of major importance to do surely sleep wasn't too much to ask for. But Trucy was shaking him with all the strength a persistent eight year old could manage, and as she called "Daddy, wake up!" for the tenth time over the past minute Phoenix reluctantly opened his eyes.

"Daddy needs to sleep," Phoenix mumbled, looking at Trucy from where he lay in bed with bleary eyes.

Trucy simply grinned at him. "Daddy, it's snowing outside!" As if to prove this, she ran across the room and parted the curtains, revealing snow covered houses and buildings and a flurry of white. Phoenix squinted at the light.

"Oh," Phoenix said, still half asleep. A slightly more aware part of his mind hoped that at least some of the snow would melt by tomorrow; he wasn't very fond of the cold.

"'Oh'?" Trucy's face fell at his lacklusture reaction, and Phoenix quickly tried to smile.

"Er, wow, there's so much of it!" Phoenix said in a happy voice. "Isn't it amazing?"

"Yeah!" Trucy's eyes lit up, and she looked back and forth from the window to Phoenix. "Hey, Daddy, can we go for a walk outside? Right now? Please?"

Phoenix sent a wary glance to the outside world. It certainly wasn't a blizzard, but there was definitely too much snow to stay comfortably warm. He couldn't see why Trucy wanted to be out in the freezing, damp snow, and he felt the urge to simply say, "We'll see," or even, "Maybe later."

Still, between the responsibility Trucy put on herself with her magic shows and Phoenix attempting to juggle various part time jobs, it wasn't every day he saw his daughter acting like a child, and he couldn't deny such hopeful eyes.

"All right, but we'll have to wrap up warm," Phoenix answered, earning a hug from Trucy. He smiled, wrapping his arms around her in return, before patting her shoulder and telling her to get dressed.

After a short breakfast and a search for warm clothes, Phoenix found himself outside, holding his arms in a futile effort to stay warm as Trucy skipped ahead. While he had managed to get Trucy into a coat, scarf and gloves, she insisted on wearing her cape and magician's hat. "It's publicity for the talent agency, Daddy!" Trucy had argued, and Phoenix found he had no rebuttal.

"Be careful!" Phoenix called with obvious worry as Trucy nearly slipped on the icy pavement. He hurried to her and gripped her hand, and though Trucy pouted at this sudden restriction she soon started smiling again, swinging their arms as they walked together. Phoenix couldn't help but smile as well.

With snow flakes slowly coating their hair and coats, and Trucy seeming as energetic as ever, Phoenix found himself wondering just how long this walk would last. They were passing streets and vertually empty roads, all coated with snow and footprints, only a few people in sight as most would either be still asleep or warm and toasty in their homes. Oh, how Phoenix envied them. He wondered if Trucy would be willing to cut their walk short at the promise of hot chocolate.

Two women deep in conversation passed by them, and before Phoenix could offer Trucy anything better than a cold day in the snow their hushed whispers killed his words.

_"Hey, isn't he that attorney? The famous one?"_

Phoenix stopped.

_"Oh, yeah, I think it is! He was fired for using forged evidence, right?"_

_"Yeah, that's right."_

_"It seems a little harsh, don't you think? Getting rid of him like that after he won all those cases? Apparently he only ever lost one."_

_"That's the only caught him using forged evidence once, but who knows how much he's done stuff like that before? I heard all of those cases were very simple before he came along and went out of his way pin the crimes on different people. He probably cheated and lied his way through his whole career. Honestly, attorneys these days do anything to get their verdict..."_

Their voices grew too far away to hear after that, and Phoenix lowered his head. Even now, people were still talking about that case. The case that cost him his job and his reputation. It was odd, really, how people's opinions could change so quickly. After one foolish mistake, he had turned from a trustworthy and successful defence attorney to a mocked liar in the eyes of society. The cases he won, the people he had helped, it all suddenly meant nothing. Phoenix grimaced at a bitter feeling rising in his chest.

"Hey, Daddy." Trucy tugged at his arm. She smiled when he turned his head towards her. "Let's go to the park, Daddy! There's one nearby, right? There'll be lot's of snow there; we can make a snowman!"

Phoenix nodded mutely, letting Trucy drag him in whatever direction she wished. He wasn't paying much attention to where they were going anymore. Trucy talked to him the entire time. She told him what she had planned for her next magic act, though of course she wasn't allowed to say how she would do it, and how everyone at her new school was being nice to her and that the teachers and her classmates were really impressed with her magic. All normal, happy topics that were far away from Phoenix's status as 'the fallen attorney.'

It occured to Phoenix that Trucy was trying to cheer him up. It wasn't the first time this had happened. Whenever his mood fell too low, whenever his life felt hopeless, Trucy was always there for him, smiling. Phoenix didn't know what he would have done without her.

Of course, it wasn't as though he would have been completely alone without Trucy. He had called both Maya and Edgeworth the day he presented that evidence, wanting them to know the truth rather than some twisted story by the tabloids. Maya's immediate reaction was to barge into his office, Pearl right behind her. Their outrage at what had happened was almost comforting. Edgeworth's anger had been a little more tranquil, considering he did not threaten to storm the courts like Maya.

They visited a lot after the first few days of the disbarment, seemingly more so after he adopted Trucy. Maya had acted as if it were unimaginable for someone like Phoenix to take care of a child, often joking that Trucy was much more grown up than him and questioning his parenting skills, though Phoenix couldn't imagine Maya's own skills were much better since her way of helping with Trucy involved bringing over a box set of Steel Samurai and Pink Princess episodes. Pearl would visit with Maya and their similar ages quickly let them become friends, Pearl viewing Trucy as a younger sister. The only time Phoenix had issue with Pearl and Trucy playing together was when Pearl had somehow convinced Trucy of the apparent 'undying love' between him and Maya; it had taken quite some time to stop Trucy from calling Maya 'Mommy.'

Edgewoth had visited frequently as well, of course, to the point Trucy dubbed him 'Uncle Edgey,' a name that caught him off guard every time. Edgeworth's contribution to helping him look after Trucy had been various child care books and, oddly, a box set of Steel Samurai and Pink Princess episodes almost identical to the one Maya had brought. When Phoenix admitted he wasn't too keen on the idea of Trucy watching a show like that, he found himself on the other end of a very long lecture on how the Steel Samurai was a classic children's icon, a rolemodel, and would forever be a timeless reminder of how justice would always prevail.

_Justice will always prevail, huh? _Phoenix could have laughed. Oh, how he wished he could still believe that as easily as he had before. When he first became an attorney, an almost natural belief was that the guilty would always be punished while the truly innocent would go free. He would make sure of that. But it wasn't that simple, not anymore. He had experienced first hand just how easily manipulated 'justice' could be.

"This is it!" Trucy suddenly cheered, and Phoenix stopped along with her. A large field stretched before them, an expanse of white, untouched snow stretching before them. Trucy spun around to face him, grinning with excitment. "I found the perfect spot! What do you think, Daddy?"

And, again faced with his daughter's happiness, Phoenix found himself smiling as well.

"It's great, Trucy," Phoenix said."Come on, let's build that snowman."

The activity was easier said than done. Trucy had her gloves to protect her, but Phoenix's hands were bare and he was absolutely certain they were seconds away from turning blue. Still, he persevered, snow coating his face and only Trucy's calls of encouragement to push him forward. Soon two snowmen stood side-by-side, one large and one small, various stones making thier eyes and smile.

"It's us!" Trucy laughed, adding, "But the big one needs spikey hair."

"Then the little one needs a magician's hat," Phoenix replied, rolling his eyes with a smile.

He was glad that Trucy seemed so genuinely happy. He wasn't the only one affected by that case, after all. Phoenix had lost his job, but Trucy had lost her father. He was amazed that she managed to smile every day, despite the sadness she must have felt inside.

And she did feel sad. That was something Phoenix had realised. Instead of crying just as she had every right to, Trucy focused her efforts on making her new Daddy as happy as she could. It seemed to be a way of coping for her, acting out a show of laughter and magic in order to never herself feel misery.

In a dark time of his life, Phoenix depended on her as a light, and, in a way, she was depending on him too.

He wouldn't give Trucy another reason to be sad, Phoenix told himself. He wouldn't disappear. Trucy was his daughter now, and he would always help her the best he could. He would always smile for Trucy as long as she smiled in return.

They walked home together hand in hand, two clumsily made snowmen, one with strange lumps on the back of its head that should have been spikes and the other with a hat shaped pile of snow on top, left smiling in a field of snow.


End file.
